The present invention refers to a device for the measured dispensing of liquids from a storage container, particularly for the measured dispensing of beverage concentrates in an automatic beverage dispenser, where drinks can be prepared by mixing a base liquid, e.g. carbonated water, and at least one beverage concentrate stored in a storage tank.
Such a device will preferably be able to provide, in automatic beverage dispensers where carbonated water is mixed with beverage concentrates to make a soft drink, the beverage concentrates in controlled amounts from a storage tank for the mixing process involved in the making of a post-mix beverage. In this connection it is particularly important, while utilizing the simplest possible means when measuring out the carbonated water, to also precisely measure out the dispensed beverage concentrates in order to achieve with necessary precision the desired mix proportions for the postmix drink being prepared. These mix proportions shall achieve the same standard as the comparable ready-made (premix) drinks on the market in bottles or cans.
For placement into automatic beverage dispensers to dispense beverage concentrates, dosage chamber devices have been developed. These dosage chamber devices are attached to a storage tank with the dispensing mouth at the bottom. By means of a magnet system a control valve inside this dosage chamber device is raised from a lower position, where the outlet port of the chamber is closed, to a higher position, where the inlet port of the chamber is closed, so that the contents of the dosage chamber can flow out by force of gravity. However, the dosage chamber space can become filled with air. When the control valve resumes its lower position, the beverage concentrate stored in the storage tank ends up in the dosage chamber by force of gravity, and any air in the dosage chamber will flow into the storage tank. The control force needed to activate the control valve is correspondingly slight, since no actual propulsion force need be produced. There are storage tanks with either rigid or flexible walls. In both cases there is an exchange of volume through extracting beverage concentrates by the use of air.
The above-described dosage chamber devices are very difficult to reduce in size due to technical realities relating to size and the volume they dispense. They are above all suited for dispensing concentrates for 1/10 drink portion units. For smaller amounts greater problems with functioning and dosage precision are presented. So these known dosage chamber dispensers make it difficult to dispense individual drinks on demand.
It is also generally known how to extract and dispense liquid out of a flexible storage tank with the aid of a pump system. In such a system, a storage tank with flexible walls (bag-in-box containers) can be emptied without air having to flow into the storage tank for volume exchange. However, for beverage concentrates to achieve very precise dispensed amounts, these bag-in-box/pump systems have functional limitations.